The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative. The almost universal consensus, even among mainstream orthodox economists is pessimistic regarding the world economy. Although, even here, their predictions understate the scope and depth of the crises, there are powerful reasons to believe that beginning in 2012, we are heading toward a steeper decline than what was experienced during the Great Recession of 2008 – 2009.

With fewer resources, greater debt and increasing popular resistance to shouldering the burden of saving the capitalist system, the governments cannot bail out the system.

Many of the major institutions and economic relations which were cause and consequence of world and regional capitalist expansion over the past three decades are in the process of disintegration and disarray.

U.S. Import VolumePer DayDaily report for date range: December 1, 2011 through December 26, 2011Export to ExcelCommodity NameOrigin NameDateDistrictPoundsBoxes of 8.8 lbsMANGOSPERU12/03/2011IMPORTS THROUGH NEWARK-ELIZABETH (NJ)52,2725,940MANGOSPERU12/10/2011IMPORTS THROUGH NEWARK-ELIZABETH (NJ)48,7895,544MANGOSPERU12/10/2011IMPORTS THROUGH BROOKLYN (NYC)48,7875,544Grand Total

(AFP) - Brazil has overtaken Britain as the world's sixth largest economy, a London-based research group said Monday.

In its latest World Economic League Table, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said Asian countries were moving up while European countries were slipping down.

Brazil's population of about 200 million is more than three times that of Britain.

The Brazilian economy grew 7.5 percent in 2010, but the government has cut its growth projections to 3.5 percent for this year after the economy slowed in the third quarter.

The CEBR also predicted that the British economy would overtake France -- ranked fifth this year -- by 2016 and it said India, the world's 10th biggest economy in 2011, would move up to fifth place by 2020.

It says the US economy is the biggest, followed by China, Japan and Germany.

Join King Mango and his merry band of MangoHeads in Occupying the Grove on Saturday, December 31st.

At 2pm, be there in your finest hats and facinators to witness the ceremonial dropping of the banana and the official start of the satirical parade that has been a model of civic engagement and civil uprising throughout the years.

With “winning” material “ripped from the headlines,” the Mangoheads will keep you laughing longer than Kim Kardashian’s marriage.

The Grand Marshal this year is Ron Magill. With over 30 years as a wildlife expert and Communications Director for Zoo Miami, there’s no better king of the jungle to lead the animal house of MangoHeads.

A Somali girl carries her sibling as they wait to collect food relief from the World Food Programme at a settlement in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, last August. Drought and armed conflict have contributed to a famine there. Worldwide, nearly 1 billion people go to bed hungry each night.

Ismail Taxta/Reuters

The holidays are a time for putting others before yourself. And with the recent announcement that the world’s population has surpassed 7 billion, there are a lot more "others" to consider this year.

Nearly 1 billion people in the world are hungry, for example, while almost the same number are illiterate, making it hard for them to earn a living or move out of poverty.

One billion people – many of them children – have micronutrient deficiencies, decreasing …

“The next Skype, Facebook or MercadoLibre will have to come out of Chile,” the Israeli investor and entrepreneur Arnon Kohavideclared shortly after moving from Silicon Valley to Santiago to create a venture capital fund. Six months later, Kohavi and his fund Yarden VC have moved to Singapore.

So what happened?

According to Kohavi, it’s about timing. Chile has great potential and will be completely different in 10 years from now; but to put it mildly, it’s not quite there yet.

Kohavi’s departure and the declarations that followed are surely controversial, but reducing it to a story about one more investor who didn’t manage to raise money for their fund would be missing the point.

Kohavi may only have spent six months in Chile, but he developed a deep understanding of the country, and the challenges facing it. We decided to ask him a few questions; while some may not share his co…